Nintendo introduced the Virtual Boy in 1995, with big promises for 3D gaming at home. Players looked through a binocular-style viewer mounted on a tabletop stand, which combined two distinct red LED screens with shaky vibrating mirrors to generate depth. However, the console sold fewer than 800,000 units worldwide before Nintendo discontinued it less than a year later.
Nintendo’s officially licensed LEGO Game Boy kit looks exactly like the original handheld, with grey bricks and a lenticular “screen” that shows various viewpoints of game scenes. Many builders admired the design but wished it was something you could play with. LCLDIY from China decided to go big or go home, taking the idea and expanding it up well beyond the original while also cramming it with real electronics.
A 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) V-Spec, in the form of an extremely rare Tommykaira R-Z edition, is about to hit the auction block in Japan. This particular example has only 20,191 kilometers on the odometer, with a mere 2,000 of those added over the previous 15 years due to some extremely light use by its long-time owner.
YouTuber Smart Poly has released a free playable demo that integrates Unreal Tournament 4 elements into Unreal Engine 5.7. When you fire it up, you’re immediately thrust into the center of arena combat, the type of fast-paced action that Unreal Tournament fans have been clamoring for. Try it out right now, and you’ll find yourself in a very stripped-down build that’s all about exploring a single level called Outpost, with some basic shooting but no multiplayer or bots.
Metal cookie tins are stacked on shelves, waiting for the Christmas season to begin, filled with delicious gingerbread and other treats. However, when it comes time to get a cookie, those lids can be a hassle to open, especially for people who have been drinking eggnog and helping with holiday preparations. One brilliant maker in Norway devised a solution to the problem: a unique system that blasts cookies directly into your mouth on command.
Arseniy of Arseniy’s Lab owns a Bambu Lab A1, a low-cost 3D printer that can print layers of plastic filament, and one day, while working on a plywood dancing pad, he ran into an unexpected problem. He wanted arrows on the surface, but paint was a mess, and stencils were too tough to work with. What if he could use the printer’s hot nozzle to burn marks in the wood instead?
CiferTech created the TamaFi, an interesting little device that reminds you of those virtual pets from years ago, but with a high-tech twist. You don’t need to feed it or clean up after it in the normal way. Instead, the TamaFi’s main function in life is to search the air for WiFi networks, which it considers snacks.
Andy Valentine spent a month reliving a childhood experience in his 350Z. He created a mini-map navigation system that uses the iconic GPS display from Need for Speed Underground 2 and runs on a $20 microchip. His bespoke dashboard setup in the Nissan 350Z tracks GPS position, loads map parts on the fly, and even includes a car symbol that spins in the direction he’s traveling.